Just Like We Were Kids
by fluffypuppies
Summary: An AU where Gene, Naru, and Mai are kids. Even if they're still little kids, that doesn't mean that they would be safe from the dangers the paranormal has in store with them. Join them as they face dangers of the typical paranormal things the characters of Ghost Hunt always face!
1. Chapter 1

**Summary:**

 **An AU where Gene, Naru, and Mai are kids. Even if they're still little kids, that doesn't mean that they would be safe from the dangers the paranormal has in store with them. Join them as they face dangers of the typical paranormal things the characters of Ghost Hunt always face!**

 **I thought of this AU while typing down for my other story Who You Are To Me, and please don't be too mean for me making this AU. Let's just say I couldn't but help typing this down.**

 **This story would probably have only few chapters because I am not thinking of making this a very long story.**

 **I don't own anything here but the story.**

* * *

 **Chapter One**

Things in life can always be predictable in different ways, even if some may say it is impossible to predict what will happen next. Maybe it would have been easier for people to predict the future if they all have intellectual minds like the smartest people that ever were alive in history. And one of those people with such knowledge and intelligence would be the great Oliver Davis himself.

Though still a boy, who is still at the age of ten, he already proved himself of brains that no ordinary ten-year-old would have. He was known as a prodigy even. Together with his beloved twin brother Eugene Davis, they prove to be twins of great talents. They were the beloved step-children of Luella and Martin Davis, who the twins were both gifted with their own psychic abilities. The couple adopted them from an orphanage when they were still young, interested at how they were special than any other kid. There were times when they would accompany their parents in meetings. At times, they would visit their dad as they observe him do his work in the BSPR in London.

They were fine with being by their parents' side as they do such meetings, and would give them an opportunity to glean and learn a bit of the things their parents search about. But one day, they heard news from their parents that they would be transferring to Japan for a year to open an SPR branch there, and would stay there for a while to observe the progress before they go back to London. It was decided that while they will be living in Japan for one year, the Davis twins will be attending a school there too.

They prepared their luggage for their stay in the Asian country—things like clothes and other stuff needed. Language won't be much a problem for Luella and the twins for they learned it enough for them to survive in the country. Luella may know Japanese, but she wasn't as fluent as the twins are at it. The Prof. Martin Davis doesn't know much Japanese, but he learned few simple phrases such as "Hello", "Good morning", "Thank you" and other phrases. Their assistants, a Chinese man named Lin and a woman named Madoka, will be staying with them too so they also learned the Japanese language.

Right now, they just arrived in Japan and were already unpacking their luggage in a house that one of their friends provided for them in their stay in Japan. The house was just like any other house, but it was spacious enough for the kids to roam around when they play, and it may be old but its beauty is based at its age and the elegance it still has.

While the adults were busy unpacking their stuff, the twins were outside the house, with Gene running around happily as he checks out every flower bush at the backyard, and Oliver under the shade of the tree with a book in his hand. Gene quickly made a messy flower crown with the flowers he picked up, and ran over to Oliver, who was too engrossed with his book to look up at the grinning Gene.

"Hey, Noll!" Gene said with a sing-song voice. Noll refused to look up from his book, but he did mutter underneath his breath for Gene to not disturb him.

Gene refused to follow what his brother said and placed the flower crown on his head. The image of Noll wearing a flower crown was too funny for Gene. He held his stomach as he laughed like some hyper hyena as Noll glared at him, eyes barely peeking out at the huge flower crown covering most of his head.

"You look so pretty, Noll!" Gene wiped away tears that were seeping out of his closed eyelids. "I think the flowers make you have more beauty than a girl."

Noll groaned. "I already have _more_ beauty than any girl of our age. No one can beat my beauty."

Gene rolled his eyes as he smiles at Noll. "You're so full of yourself. Keep saying that and you'll end up marrying yourself instead."

"I, myself, am enough for me to love already. I don't need any girl to fall in love with."

Gene huffed. "Narcissist."

He learned that word few years ago when he heard Lin called someone with the same word when he talked with a guy who keeps saying praises of himself. Gene asked for the meaning, so Lin explained the meaning of the said word, and Gene found the word as the perfect description to describe Noll and would always call him that every time Noll talks about things about himself.

Noll sighed as he took off the flower crown and placed it beside him, resuming back to his book. Gene picked it up and inched closer to him to place it back on his brother's head. Before Noll could react to attacking his brother to prevent him from placing it on his head, Gene quickly made the flower crown once again takes its rightful place on Noll's head. As soon he did that, he quickly climbed up the tree in full speed to avoid his now angry brother.

The tree was great in height, and it was tall enough for its branches to reach the top of the walls that surround the house. When Gene finally reached the nearest branch, he looked down and stuck out his tongue at his brother, who was busy giving his best death glare that even adults are afraid of. Gene chuckled and rested on the branch, listening to the leaves rustle and dance from the May wind. He closed his eyes as he lets his environment alone calm him down, and make him feel at peace.

Noll groaned as he saw his brother starting to sleep on the branch he took sanctuary on. The little scientist devised a plan to get back on his brother and looked around to find something to help with his plan. He saw the rubber ball nearby that Gene brought along with him when he was busy roaming around to pick flowers. Noll picked it up and readied his arm to aim the ball at his devious twin brother. After making sure that he won't miss his target, he threw the ball with the necessary strength for it to hit his brother, and was successful when the ball bounced at his face then went sailing over the walls, landing at the other side.

"Hey!" Gene shouted at Noll as the little scientist smirked at his brother.

Noll showed a face of innocence. "What?"

Gene pouted, "That was painful, Noll!"

Noll shrugged. "Should have left me alone then, Gene." He pointed to Gene, "Also, I won't be the one to get the ball for you. You're the nearest to it anyway."

Gene refrained from giving any complaints and looked over the wall, seeing the ball on the street not so far away from the place. He turned back at Noll, placing his fists on his sides and his chest sticking out. "I'll go get it if you come with me to climb over the gate."

Before Noll could protest, Gene started climbing over to the branch near him that leads to the edge of the wall, not giving time for his brother to say anything. Noll sighed and started climbing the tree.

Gene reached the edge and was standing on it. The top of the gate was thick enough for the little boy's feet to stand on top of it, but just standing on it and looking down can give Gene the chills just seeing at how far the ground is below him. He looked back and saw Noll crawling on the branch to him.

Gene should have been really careful because at that moment, a strong gust of wind was enough to throw him off balance. His eyes widened as he tried to gain back his balance, but started leaning backward, about to fall. He only gave a small yell as he fell over the wall and Noll reaching out his hand as he shouted his name.

"OW!" Gene yelped in pain as he landed on his butt.

Good news, there were bushes that were planted around the walls, so Gene had a cushion for him to be safe from the fall. The bad news is that he is now stuck in the bush and is busy trying to fight his way out of it.

Noll sighed in relief as he saw that his brother was safe, and proceeded to go over the wall, landing on his feet perfectly and unharmed, unlike his brother.

Noll went over to his brother's aide and started helping him out of the bush. They weren't paying attention to a girl who was walking down on the road, staring at the scene of the boys in their struggle. The girl felt something on her toes, a feeling that she probably kicked something. She looked down to see a rubber ball. Interested, she picked it up and examined it as she held it up in her hands. There were slightly childish writings on it, words she couldn't read on the ball that were written in red marker ink. She may not be able to read it, but she knows from experience when her mom once showed her a book of the letters the English-speaking people use in their writings. The letters looked just like some of the English letters she saw from the book.

She was busy wondering who the owner of the ball was when she heard one of the boys shouted out in victory of his freedom, and looked up to see them noticing her presence for the first time.

Now that she paid attention to them, she noticed that the boys were identical twins. They had the same hair color, same eyes, same skin tone, same features, same _everything!_ There was just _no_ difference that the girl could point out that could help her tell who is who. The only difference are their expressions. One had a huge smile on his face, beaming happily at the girl, while the other one had a cold frown at his face, staring icily at the girl which gave her chills traveling down her spine.

The smiling twin walked over to the girl, looking at the ball in her hands. "Oh, you found my ball! Thanks for finding it."

The girl realized that she was still hugging the ball to her chest, so she held it out to the boy while bowing down deeply.

"I-I'm so sorry! Here's your ball…"

The boy looked at her with an eyebrow raised, the corner of his lips tugging up in a smile. "Now why would you be sorry? It's not like you ran away with my ball." Gene took the ball from her and gave her a wide smile, imitating her bow. "Thanks so much!"

The girl returned the smile, brown eyes beaming with delight. "You're welcome!"

Noll walked over to his brother's side when the girl gave another bow to them. "My name is Taniyama Mai, but please call me Mai. My mom and I live in an apartment that is not too far away from your home. Probably a fifteen minute walk from here."

Gene bowed. "Well, my name's Gene! And this here—" he wrapped an arm around his brother, "—is my twin brother named Noll! He may look like a scary kid, but he is actually a softie in the inside."

"No, I'm not," Noll slid Gene's hand off of his shoulder, but Gene proceeded to linking his arm with him. Gene gave a grin while Noll gave a gloomy look.

"Well, I hope we can all be nice here. After all, our family came from England, so we aren't really familiar with the place here. I hope we can be friends, and that you'd help take care of us too when it comes to getting along in this country."

Mai giggled as she nodded her head. "Okay! Let's be friends then."

And it was at that moment when the kids heard someone coming and saw a really tall man and a woman with brown hair heading towards them.

Gene smiled. "Lin! Madoka!"

The woman, Madoka, rested her hands on her hips as she frowned at the twins. "Now, boys, you shouldn't just disappear like that! You scared your mother when she realized you were nowhere in the house or in the garden. She thought you guys escaped and got kidnapped!"

"We were fine. It's not like we would wander too far from the house. We don't even know our way around here." Noll just coolly said with a bored expression.

She nodded, and looked over to Mai, a smile now replacing the frown she had just a second ago. "And who's she? A new friend?"

Mai seemed panicked as she bowed deeply, and stuttered, "Umm…uhh…m-my name is…is T-Taniyama Mai! Err, it's a p-pleasure to meet you!"

The woman softly laughed behind her hand as the man named Lin just frowned for no known reason. It was his frown which Mai squeaked in fright like those cartoon mice when they see a cat. Madoka noticed this and scolded to Lin to not scare the little girl.

"Lin! You're frightening Mai-chan here!" She turned back to Mai with a big smile. "Don't be scared, dearie! Want to come over to the house? You, Gene, and Noll could have a little snack before you could go back home. Okay?"

Mai's eyes seemed to sparkle at that very moment. She nodded her head vigorously. "Uh-huh!"

Gene and Madoka were the only ones who were happy about this, while Noll and Lin just had straight faces as their reaction.

 _It feels like things won't be peaceful from now on,_ Noll thought glumly as he watched the girl gave a big smile, as if it was her birthday right now.

* * *

Gene, Noll, and Mai were lazing under the shade of the tree as the adults went back to arranging their belongings in their house. The kids were enjoying themselves, licking the popsicles that were given to them as snacks. It was the perfect snack to munch on when the day was really sunny, like today.

But right when they finished their snacks, Mai looked at the time in her watch that has little pictures of Pokémon characters.

"I have to go already. Mom will be worried if I don't go now."

Gene immediately stood on his feet when he heard that. "It's not too far right? Then we can walk with you to your house!"

Noll raised an eyebrow at his sudden proclamation. "We?"

Gene grinned. "Yes, Noll! _We._ We're not letting our new friend walk alone to her house all by herself!"

Noll sighed. "I think that's not necessary. She needs to learn how to do things by herself if she's going to grow into an independent person. Besides, if she learns how to be independent, then she won't grow into an idiot in the future."

"Hey!" Mai felt kind of offended to what he just said. "Don't say mean things Noooo... Norrrr... Naaaaaa... rrruuuuu... Naru!"

A silence exchanged between the kids for a while that the tiniest sound of the wind was as loud as how drums would be to their ears. But that moment of silence was disturbed when Gene started snickering uncontrollably and Noll smirking.

"What," Noll tried not to look too amused, but failed a bit. "You can't pronounce my name now, huh?"

Mai blushed a bit in embarrassment. "I'm sorry if I can't pronounce it right! Don't think that I'm used to saying it that way yet."

He just shook his head, as if this was all some joke that he would probably laugh at if it weren't for the presence of the brunette. "Idiot."

She snapped. "What makes me an idiot anyway? I have my good points! You have no good points at all!" Mai pouted, her bottom lip trembling a bit. "I mean, yeah you're good looking, but that attitude of yours is as mean as a bully's!"

He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow to her. "You think I'm good looking?" Mai's face turned as red as a tomato's, which made him smirk to annoy her. "Huh... You have good taste. So there's still hope for you then."

Mai gasped and frowned at him. She pointed at him accusingly. "You... You...!"

"Yes? Me?" He's enjoying this so far.

"You... You're such a...!"

"A narcissist?" Gene suggested the word to the girl.

"Yes! A narcissist!" She was happy with the word. Seems like she knows the word too. "Naru the Narcissist! That's a fitting name for a narcissist like you, _Naru_! NAAAAAA RRRUUUUU!" She played around with the name, proud for the name she just made.

Again, he raised an eyebrow to this. But Gene hollered with laughter at what Mai just did.

"Okay then!" Gene said with a deciding tone. "If you're going to call him as Naru from now on, then I'll also call him as Naru too! Fine with this, _NARU?"_

Noll—or should we say _Naru_ —frowned.

"Okay, _Naru,_ " Gene began. "Shall we escort Mai home now? It'll be fun! We'll be her bodyguards, and she could be the precious princess, as we escort her to her wonderful castle! Also, we get to see where she lives so that we could come and visit at times. Isn't that right, Mai?"

"Yup!" Mai beamed. "Definitely!"

"Great! This gonna be fun! Isn't it fun to make friends, _Naru?"_

 _Yeah,_ Naru thought to himself. _Definitely not going to be peaceful from now on..._

* * *

A/N: This will only be updated when I have the time, since I'm mostly focusing on my other story right now. But I'll make sure that this story will be complete before I grow old and have white hair!

Please review if this was interesting! (Though I doubt it would be that interesting since this is still the first chapter and still the introduction of everything happening and stuff...)

Until next time~


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm sorry guys! I've been quiet for so long because there's been so much requirements from school lately. Especially requirements that had to be done last Christmas break. (By the way, belated Merry Christmas guys!)**

 **But enough of that! Back to the story~**

 **(Before we proceed to the story, please take note that it will only be in Gene's and Naru's parent's POV where they call him as Noll. But Gene may sometimes use the name Naru instead of Noll if it's in Mai's presence, but only sometimes. Everyone else including Lin and Madoka will be calling him as Naru. Naru… will be calling himself as Naru.)**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

"Noll, we should go and find Mai so that we could go home already." Gene pulled Noll out of the classroom with him on one hand, and the other hand holding on to his and Mai's school bags. "It will be the first day that we get to walk home from school with Mai. Isn't it going to be fun or what?"

"Definitely." Noll remarked. "I'm going to be spending quality time with my annoying brother and an airhead. What else could be better than doing just that?"

Just when classes ended moments ago, Noll and Gene—who were seated behind Mai—watched as two of Mai's classmates leap towards Mai like lions, grabbed her arm, then pulled her out of the classroom with them as they went racing into the hallways in a jiffy. The twins just watched them go and see Mai disappear right before their eyes before they could even finish saying, "there she goes."

So Gene decided to take up the task of finding Mai and bringing her things with him, since she left them behind by her desk. Also, since he is his beloved brother, Gene wanted to share the task for Noll to fulfill too. Isn't that wonderful.

"That's mean," Gene looked around to find any hints of a girl with a certain brunette hair anywhere. "Have any ideas of places of where we could try checking in?"

They just passed by the playground where kids were having the time of their lives and screaming with glee from the top of their lungs. Some climbing up the ladder to be at the top of the slide. Several kids playing by the swings. Everyhwere is a kid's paradise, but there was a brunette missing in the population of these kids.

"Not here," Noll confirmed his observations and Gene nodded beside him. "Where did she go…?"

* * *

"Keiko, Michiru, what's going on?" Mai was panting from running around when her two friends dragged her along with them, to wherever they wanted to go to. Now they're hiding behind the bush somewhere located in the back of the school, as if what they were about to do may be illegal. The sun was about to set down to sleep from staying high up on the sky from doing its duty of lighting the world, with the sky glowing in the shades of orange and red. After a moment of silence, Keiko and Michiru both turned to Mai with mischievous smiles on their faces.

"Hey, Mai," Michiru started, "have you ever heard of the story of the Flame Children in the Izumi House?"

"Eh?" Mai tilted her head to the side. "Flame... what?"

Keiko sat nearer to Mai, as if ready to whisper some juicy secret with that big grin on her face.

"You heard it right! The Flame Children in the Izumi House."

"Yeah, the Izumi House is just a short walk away from the police station nearby," Michiru added.

Both of them bent forward to make their hushed whispers clear for Mai to hear. Whatever they're doing, they're probably trying to create a suspenseful atmosphere to scare Mai. The two of them are failing at scaring Mai, but they did a great job in piquing her with interest to the given topic.

"Tell me!" Mai says eagerly, eyes sparked with curiosity. It was Michiru who answered.

"My mommy says that I should NEVER even go near the house. It is because there are scary ghosties hiding there. They say that the scary ghosties would look like kids with slightly burned clothes and scratches all over their arms and legs. They would play around the front lawn of the house."

Keiko continued from here. "I also heard that whoever goes to the house and play around with the children thrre, they'd mysteriously wake up the next day with a burn mark on their arm in the shape of a small hand."

"And that's not all," Michiru took the spotlight again. "For the ones who dare to go trespass into the house, the person would either burn suddenly when they step out of the house—"

"Or they'd die the next day with their house burned down." Keiko finished for Michiru.

The wind seemed to die down just then, but it felt like a chill hanged over them like a veil, sensing the suspense.

"Whoa," Mai said dumbly as she has no other words to describe such a rumor. Is it all real?

"And that's not all!" Michiru smirked as if finally getting Mai's attention completely. "It's also observed by people that whoever gets burned alive would usually have a circle of scorched footprints surrounding the person. But there would be no proof that anyone has ever been standing there at all."

"Ehhh?" Was Mai's reply to that.

"Yup," Michiru nodded. "But the ones who died from entering the house were all adults and teenagers. The ones who got the burned handmarks were all teenagers. But, Mai, do you want to know what happens to the children?"

Mai didn't need to answer. Michiru already knew that she wanted the answer.

"It's heard that this only applies on children ranging from six to twelve years old. If the kid goes in the house or pass by the house and so happen to hear a voice whispering for them to 'join the family' then that child would disappear the next day, no clues of where they gone to. The only clue the people would find is that when they check the doorstep of the Izumi House, they'd see the clothes the kid wore before they disappeared. People will never see the child ever again, and that's proven true since all the children who claimed that they heard the calling of the Izumi House were NEVER to be found."

"Yeah, never." Like an echo, Keiko repeated the word as if emphasizing it. Mai looked from both girls, trying to digest in the story into her mind. It's a lot to take in for her.

"Nice ghost story."

The three of the girls jumped in surprise as they all turned to see that there was a boy who had been listening to their conversation all along.

"Oh, it's just you, Haru." Keiko questioned as she was busy resting a hand in her ever rapidly beating heart. "You heard everything?"

Haru gave a toothy grin, showing his pearly whites. "Yeah, all of it alright. But I already know the story. I've heard it from big bro."

He took a step forward to the girls and puffed out his chest.

"I got a challenge." The girls looked at each other. This seems like nothing good is going to happen next.

"Eh? Challenge?" Mai stood beside her two friends, feeling like something bad is going to happen. Not good.

"How about we—" points to himself then to the three girls, "—go and try checking out the house?"

Yeah. Not good indeed.

"Nope, not coming!" Michiru stood her ground and showed him a face that really says "No" quite seriously. "Haru, of all the weird ideas you have, this is the most dangerous of them all. I'm not joining you on this!"

"Y-Yeah, me too," Keiko stuttered, showing that she, too, wants nothing to do with what Haru wants.

"LAAAAAME!" He stuck out his tongue to them and gave a laugh. "You're such babies! At least Mai is brave enough to come to the house with me."

 _Go to the awful house?_ Mai thought. _I'm not that smart, but I know very well how terrible that idea is._

"Sorry, Haru," Mai bowed deeply to show how sorry she was. "I can't come with you. I promised I'd go walk home along with two of my friends already."

"Yeah, and it's getting late already, idiot."

Once again, the three girls jumped in surprise, but this time Keiko squeaked in fear. They turned around to see twins, one of them staring at Mai with a curious look while the other stares at her with such annoyance. Look who joined in the party.

"Naru!" Mai exclaimed. "When did you get here? How'd you know I was here?"

"We just walked around until we heard voices here." Naru faced Michiru and Keiko. "What's this about the rumors of the Flame Children in the Izumi House?"

Haru's eyes shone bright with hope. Definitely not good.

 _He might start asking him if he wants to join in going to the house._

"Hey! Want to join me in going to the Izumi House?"

 _Yup. I was right._

But he was ignored as Michiru, along with Keiko, walked towards Naru and Gene, smiling widely. She told a shorter version of the rumors to the twins, and Haru just waited nearby, waiting for the opportunity to ask them again if they wanted to join him. Mai hopes Naru wouldn't agree to it though. Whether the stories are true or not, it's still dangerous to do it especially when it's getting late in the noon already.

By the end of the topic, Naru still kept a poker face while Gene was grinning with excitement. But Mai watched as Naru shaked his head. "No, I'm not going. Neither my brother, too."

Gene pouted. "Aww." But Mai inwardly sighed with relief for Naru's answer. Haru huffed and turned around, back facing them.

"Fine! Do whatever you like! But I'm gonna go to that house, whether any of you are coming or not," and just like that, he ran away from us. "I'm gonna go home and prepare my stuff, so I'm giving you time to make your decision before I head off to the place!"

When he finally disappeared from sight, Michiru and Keiko sighed in relief and apologized to the twins about Haru's foolishness. After several words exchanged with Mai and the twins, both girls left already, leaving Mai alone with the twins. Mai sighed inwardly.

 _I hope Haru will be okay…_

* * *

"Well," Gene gave a big smile to Mai. "Shall we go now, Mai? Our parents would kill us if we don't get back soon." He attempted to hook his arm with the brunette, but she spoke up before he could even get near her.

"What about Haru? We're really going to allow him to even get near that house?"

Noll answered, "It's his choice." Then he started walking away with Gene following him, but not before Gene placed an arm around Mai's small shoulders.

"Come on, Mai. We don't want you to be involved with that kind of trouble. We don't want you getting hurt from other people's choices."

Gene then turned to look at Noll, speaking telepathically with him.

 _Do you really think this is the kind of paranormal dad and mom faces?_

Noll didn't look back at Gene, but he replied nonetheless.

 _Possibly. What else could cause such occurrences?_

 _Hmm, true enough. Maybe we can ask mom and dad to look into this._

 _Yeah, we can. But not here. Not when Mai is around. She could get involved then hurt._

Gene laughed in his thoughts.

 _So you DO care for her, huh, Noll?_

Gene may not be able to see Noll's expression, but he could guess that Noll was rolling his eyes at what Gene said.

 _That idiot needs someone to watch over her. She's just so troublesome. Better not let her be a part of this before she starts brewing up a storm with her clumsiness._

 _Seriously, Noll? You're so mean to her! It's not like she's a magnet who'd attract all kinds of trouble right?_

Out of nowhere, Gene then was startled when Mai asked something that was totally unexpected of her to ask them.

"Gene... do you believe in ghosts?"

Noll spun around, looking at Mai with a serious look. "You mean the paranormal?" Mai nodded.

"Yes," she said. "The paranormal I think. That's where there are ghosts involved right?" This was then answered by Gene nodding his head to her her. "Well, what if there really are Flame Children in the house? Wouldn't that make it dangerous to the people near it? Ghosts are always big meanies, right?"

Noll raised an eyebrow to her in question, "You mean aggressive?"

"Yup, are they evil?"

"No, not all of them. Some of them are harmless. Some of them are just lost. Some of them are aggressive in nature, but it's probably because of something that might have happened when they were still alive."

"They're like humans who are really sensitive and just need some guidance to finally find peace," Gene added to Noll's explanation. "Not all of them can be saved though."

Mai's eyes looked down. She looked sad. But why? What is the girl thinking now? She had the look of... longing?

But that emotion didn't lasted there on her face for long because her sad look then flickered to a curious face like switching sides of a card.

"Well, what if we try to save the ghosts in the house? Maybe the children are scared and lost, so maybe they just need some comfort... right?"

"Bad idea."

Mai and Gene turned to look at Noll.

"Noll?" Gene stared at his brother.

"They're very violent spirits," Noll looked squarely to Mai. "The idea can work, but it's going to be risky. Possibilities of doing that may cost someone's life when you start interacting or going near such a dangerous spirit."

"But, at least we can try, right?" Mai refuted.

"We're not doing it. Especially not with you around."

Mai looked hurt at that. "Excuse me?"

 _Uh oh,_ Gene thought.

At this rate, Noll and Mai would end up arguing, then they would lose a chance to even have a peaceful walk back to their respective homes. Time for Peacekeeper Gene to take action. Noll glanced over to him, eyebrow raised. He probably heard his thoughts.

Gene tried to think of what to say to stop this argument. "Mai, what Noll—I mean, what NARU meant—" from the corner of his eye, he could see Noll glaring at him, "—is that he'd not want to see you get harmed if ever we go to the Izumi house."

The brunette gave the biggest pout ever. "I-I'm a brave girl!"

"Umm, Mai, that's not what—"

"But can you even defend yourself," Noll spoke out.

Mai stuttered. "I..." Gene could see Mai's hands clenching to small fists by her sides. "I believe I'm able to fight if it means to protect myself!"

All throughout their argument, Mai has been stomping her way towards Noll, and they are now having a staring contest (more of glaring though) with each other, none of them looking away or even blinking. They're just so near each other, they'd probably can count out how many eyelashes each of them have. Gene would love to point it out to them and tease them to no end that they look like lovers looking deeply into each other's eyes, but he's afraid he won't be able to see the light again if ever he does something like that.

The stare-off lasted a minute or two, but no one was quite sure for it felt like eternity before it was Noll who looked away.

"We can't risk an idiot like you getting in trouble now."

Smoke seemed to come out of her ears in Gene's imagination.

"I'M NOT AN IDIOT! JERK!" She really looked like she wanted to punch him. Seems like his plan of peacekeeping isn't working at all.

"Mai, calm down!" Gene attempted to stop her, but she didn't calm down.

"Naru probably just doesn't want to go there because he didn't want the Flame Children to ruin his _beautiful_ face."

"Thanks for the compliment." Noll was now walking away.

"THAT WASN'T A COMPLIMENT! NARCISSIST!"

 _Naru!_ Gene scolded him telepathically.

Gene watched as Noll stopped walking away, but he didn't bother looking back at them. He could hear him sighing. Silence took over the background as Gene and Mai watched him. But he did speak a while later.

"If you end up getting hurt, then wouldn't your parents get worried?"

"But... I'll be extra careful!" Mai isn't backing down.

Noll turned to look back at her, but instead of the usual stony and icy look he gives usually, there was blue eyes that gave a soft look, as if showing genuine concern. Blue eyes the same shade as the ocean when it's calm, giving a calming look but at the same time a gloomy one.

 _Noll?_

Mai must have seen his concerned look because she stopped glaring daggers at him, but now has a surprised look. She probably never thought he would have such a look before.

"If you end up getting hurt..." Noll started, and Mai and Gene listened closely to what he has to say. But then he shook his head. "Gene and I may not know you much since we weren't even here for a month yet, but imagine how guilty we would feel knowing that we weren't able to save a friend from a spirit we knew that is quite aggressive."

Both Mai and Gene were silent. He spoke softly as if speaking to someone who just lost a loved one. Mai was speechless, but Gene was speechless too.

He turned around to walk away again, but this time, Mai stayed quiet and silently followed him, not saying a word. Gene got over his shock and ran over to Noll's side.

 _So you really do care, huh? You really looked like you're worried about her safety._

Noll glared at him, _No. She's still a stranger to us. We barely even know her._

Gene raised an eyebrow to his brother, _So what's with you saying those sweet things to her then?_

 _Simple. It's to convince her to stop such nonsense._

 _So... you looking at her with that look..._

 _Yes,_ Noll nodded his head slightly so that Mai wouldn't find it suspicious of him nodding for no reason. _I just did an act. Again, it's to convince her. Fortunately, she fell for it._

From behind them, Mai muttered to herself something that sounded like "...But... What about Haru...?" But neither Gene or Noll heard her that clearly.

Gene frowned at his twin, _But I fell for it too, you know._

Noll shrugged.

All three of them had their walk back home in silence, the energy and excitement that Gene had in the first place was all gone and was replaced by an awkward atmosphere between the three.

To gain back the happy atmosphere again, Mai put on a smile and challenged the twins on who could reach their house first in a race. She quickly ran, and before Gene could join in the race, he spoke one last time in his mind.

 _If that was all fake... how come that look you gave to her looked so completely genuine?_

Gene ran to chase after Mai while laughing, leaving a silent Noll behind to let Gene's question sink deep into his mind.

* * *

 _What about Haru?_

That question echoed back again and again in her mind like a broken record.

She was now in her little home where she and her mom are now the only ones who reside in the little sanctuary of theirs. She never got to know her father much since he died when she was still younger and she was in the age when she's not able to have much memories yet. So it was just them now. Her mom and her.

 _What about Haru?_

Yes, back to Haru. He's heading off to the Izumi house. But he might end up hurt if those rumors about the place is true.

 _What about Haru?_

Going to that house is a big _No No_ , even when Naru and Gene tried to convince her to not go there. _Especially_ Naru, when he's been firm on his word that she should NOT go there. That house is like a big trap for whoever goes there. Especially when the news said that the majority of the people who go there only end up dead. So if they all die going there, will Haru...

 _What about Haru?_

Mai sighed.

But they can't allow Haru to go there. If he does go there, he'd get hurt. So maybe ignoring Naru's and Gene's warning just for now will mean she'd get to prevent Haru from getting hurt.

 _What about Haru?_

Mai quickly grabbed her flashlight and opened her window.

 _What about Haru?_

Mai silently climbed out of the window, making sure she doesn't make any noise that would alarm her mom.

 _What about Haru?_

Now outside, Mai ran to the direction towards where it would lead to the Izumi house.

 _Sorry, Naru..._

* * *

 _The children sang_

 _The children played_

 _The lovers laughed_

 _The lovers danced_

 _Children come to us_

 _Children, laugh and play_

 _Come, come, come dear children_

 _Join us and be merry_

 _Come, join the family_

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, FINALLY, an update! Also, here's some news…**

 **I would love to update this and my other story weekly, but my school is starting to give so much requirements I barely have even enough to sit down and type down the story. So, I'll only end up updating whenever I can, but I'll try my best to at least update once a month if I can handle that.**

 **Please send a message or comments of what you thought of the story so far and some suggestions of how to improve it!**

 **For the ones who are reading my other story** _ **Who You Are To Me**_ **please note that I'll try updating that next alongside with the next chapter of** _ **Just Like We Were Kids.**_

 **Until Next time~**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Don't own Ghost Hunt guys!**

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

Looking up at the Izumi house, Haru grins as he prepares his flashlight in his hand. He looked around for any details that will show any evidences of the Flame Children playing around by the front lawn as the rumors say. But not a single movement was seen by the front of the house. The only movements he'd see would be the swaying of the old and rusty wind chimes that has been left hanging by the front door of the house, making soft sounds of the chimes making tinkling sounds.

 _Children, where are you…?_

Haru bit his lip impatiently as he was hoping to at least see one ghost child playing around. All he needs is one certain evidence that the rumors are true. Then people will believe him and stop calling the rumors as just… well, rumors.

"Children," Haru stepped forward to the property, feeling his feet sinking a bit into the soil, moist from the rain that came the other day. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

He finally entered the house as the door gave a big creak, making his presence known by that sound alone.

"I'm not here to hurt you! If possible, I just want to talk to you."

Still no reply or any details of movement in the house.

Haru continued walking into the house, looking for the ghost children, but not even aware someone was watching him from behind him, closing the door slowly and silently behind him.

The fearless boy now entered the kitchen where it would have looked clean if you don't count the dust that has been collecting all over the place by age. In other words, minus the dust, the place looked splendid and organized.

He walked forward until he reached the table right beside the kitchen counter top. There lying on it was a photograph of a group of children staring blankly up at him, eyes void of emotion. Haru picked it up and inspected it some more.

A thought struck and thought if he'd be safe when the flame children ever come to meet up with him, but Haru shrugged it off as he recalls someone telling him that the children won't harm him as they won't harm kids at all. He went back to staring at the children in the photograph.

"Children... are they the children from the story?" He asked himself that as he turned the photograph around to check the back. There on the back of the picture was the date of when it was taken. Underneath it was a writing:

 _My dear, lovely children_

 _As ashes, you will be_

 _As fire, they will burn_

 _As servants, you will serve_

There seemed to be a signature below it, but it was covered by a blotch of ink.

"As ashes... As fire..." His face scrunched up in confusion. "What does that mean?"

 _...burn..._

Haru turned around but saw no one.

"Hello?" But silence was all he got. The whole house was just eerily silent for him.

He turned back his attention again to the back of the picture, but when he turned around to look at the picture once again, he gasped as he dropped the picture as if it were burning.

The children didn't have blank looks anymore. In fact, their faces were covered by blotches of ink. On the ink, drawings of red smiling faces were drawn on all the children's covered faces. Lastly, written with the same red color of the drawn faces, words like "BURN" and "THEY SAID" was written all over the background.

Haru fell on his butt and just stared at the picture as if it suddenly morphed into a monster.

"Wh-What the heck?!"

Laughing. There was laughing echoing from everywhere in the house.

Haru panicked when he heard the laughing and started looking around frantically of where the laughing came from.

Children. It sounded like there were so many children laughing in the house.

Haru quickly grabbed his fallen flashlight and tried to run for the door.

Singing. The children started singing. What are they singing?

He was about to grab the doorknob and planning to quickly swing it open to his freedom, but that plan wasn't going to happen as the door suddenly had blood flowing down mysteriously from the ceiling and down to cover the door. Haru gasped and stopped himself from grabbing the now bloody doorknob.

Blood continue pouring, but there were some areas that didn't get stained by the blood. And it formed a message.

 **JOIN.**

 _Join the family..._

Haru turned around to see silhouettes standing behind him. They looked like the height of children.

 _Join the family..._

"N-No! I don't want to!" Screw the blood! He quickly grabbed hold to the doorknob and gave it a jiggle. Locked.

 _Join the family..._

"HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME!" Haru screamed at the top of his lungs.

 _Join the family..._

He turned around to the children and cried. "No! They said that you don't harm the children! YOU DON'T HARM THE CHILDREN!"

The ghost children laughed.

 _Join the family! Join! Join the family!_

They reached out to Haru and Haru screamed for them to not get near him. "NOOOO! STOOOOP!"

 _Join the family! Join the family! Join the family! Join the family! Join the family! Join the family!_

With all his might, he gave his last loudest call.

"HEEEEELP MEEEEEE! I DON'T WANNA DIEEEEE!"

Then he saw the silhouettes of two adults grinning at him before his vision turned dark.

* * *

"Haru? Haru where are you!"

Mai has just reached the place of the Izumi house property, and she knew that she needed to be quick or else she'll end up having trouble finding Haru in the rain.

She looked up the sky. The dark clouds are getting thicker, and they are gathering here as if they are attracted to the ominous atmosphere of the house. If she idles even more than a few minutes then the storm is surely to start soon.

 _Gotta hurry._

Mai shot towards the house, and thought it suspicious of the front door being wide open, as if anticipating for the brunette to come in its gullet.

Into the belly of the beast she goes.

* * *

"We got to hurry up, Noll!"

"Easy for you to say! Why do I have to carry the backpack while you hold the flashlight?"

The twins ran in full speed ahead, desperate to catch up with the sneaky brunette to make sure that she doesn't end up getting into trouble.

How'd they end up in such a conundrum? Let's rewind to moments ago in the past...

* * *

 _"Noll! It's time for little children to sleep!"_

 _"Yes, I'm aware of that."_

 _"But you're not even moving away from your spot!"_

 _"I feel fine sitting here, Gene."_

 _"But I just said that it's time for little children to go to sleep!"_

 _"Yes, and you fall under that category." Oliver said coolly as he never looked up from his book. "Now, go to sleep, Gene. I'll want peace and quiet as I am busy here."_

 _Oliver sat by the window of their room, which was his favorite spot when reading as it feels comfortable for him to read under the moonlight, and also serve as a great source of light whenever he wants to read at night. Though when the moon is behind the clouds, he has no choice but to call in for the night. Since the moon is shining bright tonight in all its glory, then Oliver will be up for a while, maybe until the wee hours of the morning._

 _Gene sighed exasperatedly from where he stood and threw up his arms in defeat. "I give up! Good luck in having eye bags!" He got himself in bed and started wrapping himself with his blanket._

 _Oliver rolled his eyes and cared to look up a bit to stare out to his window. The moon was glowing bright tonight, shining down silver rays of light down on everything. Everything on Earth just bathed in the moon's light, making everything beautiful even for photographers to take a picture of._

 _Oliver rested his chin on his open palms and just stared at the view given by the window._

Japan doesn't look that bad. Maybe it does have some beauty to it after all...

 _His period of contemplation was abruptly interrupted when he saw a flash of a movement on the streets below, in front of the house. He looked closely and thought he saw_ —

 _"Mai?"_

 _But his view of the girl was blocked by the trees when she further ran down the street to somewhere._

 _"What do you mean 'Mai'?"_

 _He turned around to see Gene looking at him confused. Gene was probably still awake and heard him say the girl's name while he was in the middle of trying to sleep._

 _"I saw Mai running down the road." Oliver nodded his head to the window._

 _Gene's eyes opened wide in realization. "Oh no... is she heading off to..." He didn't need to finish that sentence to realize her intentions. He spun around and went to rummage his drawers, pulling out a flashlight and dumping several stuff into his backpack. "We got to go stop her!"_

 _He jumped out off bed and quickly replacing his clothes with a sweater and some shorts._

 _Oliver sighed. "Why do we have to chase after that idiot." But closed his book and follow after his brother nonetheless, not before changing his clothes too._

* * *

"Haru? Are you in here?" The door of the house gave bone-chilling loud _creaaaaaak_ as Mai finally entered into the beast of a house. She looked all around her and saw no one coming to her or even replying back to her. (Now that she thinked about it, maybe someone suddenly replying back to her would give her the worst heart attack in history.)

"Haruuuuuuu! Where are yoooooou?"

She tried walking towards to what she believes was the kitchen. What she saw there was Haru, his back turned to her. "Haru?"

At that moment, everything happened so fast that Mai didn't have time to even react much to it.

Like dust blown by the wind, he disintegrated into ashes that was then blown away by an unknown breeze. The area of where he used to be on started bursting in flames, a blast of heat scorching Mai's face.

"AH!"

The fire then disappeared just as fast as when it appeared. No evidences of the fire being there in the first place. No burned parts on the wooden floors or anything at all.

The next thing that happened? Laughter was heard everywhere. Laughter of a large number of children around the house.

 _Burn!_

 _Burn her!_

 _Join!_

 _Join the family!_

 _I gotta get out of here!_ Mai mentally screamed as she quickly got on her feet and sprinted off to the door.

 _NO!_

 _JOIN!_

 _BURN!_

 _FAMILY!_

 _THEY SAID!_

 _COME!_

Mai finally got out of the house and started running with all her might away from that terrible nightmare. Greeted by the last rays of the moon before it was hidden by the thick and dark clouds, she finally came out of the house. She just only passed by the fence when she suddenly bumped into someone. The girl was taken aback from the collision that she landed hard on her butt, earning a yelp from her.

"Mai?"

She looked up and saw that the person she bumped to was Gene. She leaned to her side a bit and saw Naru right behind him, helping his brother get up.

She didn't know what has gotten into her. The next thing she knows, she was wailing as she jumped to Gene and started hugging tightly around his waist, burying her face to his clothes.

She's so relieved she's out of there.

* * *

"WAHHHHHHHH!" Mai cried as both twins stared at her, shocked.

From the corner of Gene's eye, he could see that Noll had a bit of a hard look as he watched Mai hug Gene tighter.

Gene would have teased his brother mentally of how he's jealous right now, but he thinks what he must be doing now is help the crying brunette.

"Whoa, Mai! What's wrong?"

Mai sobbed louder and louder as the seconds ticked by, but she finally answered, but in a jumble of words.

"H-Haru... He... They took... Fire... Burned him... Children... Join... Family... I escaped... IT WAS HORRIBLE!" Then she went back to wailing again so Gene tried to pat her head to make her calm down.

As Gene did this Noll looked up to stare at the house from a distance. Gene spoke to him telepathically.

 _It seems the rumors were true then._

From his view, he saw Noll nodding his head slightly.

 _So it seems._

* * *

The flashlight Mai had was abandoned and now is sitting idly by the front door. The twins and the girl started walking away from the house, but what they aren't aware of was two figures standing by the door, beside the fallen flashlight, staring at the children as they walk away from their house.

* * *

 _You'll soon join the family._

* * *

 **A/N: Here's the third chapter! Sure I made this in a rush, but hey! It's an update nonetheless. And thank you to the ones who took the time to review and read the story, that really made me happy! *dramatically cries tears of joy***

 **Also, readers of** _ **Who You Are To Me,**_ **expect the update to come soon! (There's a Chemistry quiz coming and I don't want to fail that!)**

 **I also have a friend who's new to and they posted their very first story, which is a fanfiction of** _ **Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**_

 **So it'd be nice if you guys could go and read their story please!**

 **The title is** _ **From Sky to Cloud**_ **by Suifeng Crimes.**

 **Again, thanks for reading this far, guys! And until next time~**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: If I don't own the world, then I don't own Ghost Hunt!**

* * *

 **Chapter Four**

"Mai, you will tell us everything you saw in that house. All details, including the smallest of them all."

"Noll! Just give her a minute! Can't you see she's still recovering from what she just experienced from that place?"

"But if it's soon done, then she or anyone else won't be in danger from that house anymore."

"But at least let her sit down and relax for a freaking second, you idiot scientist! We barely even sat here for half a minute."

Mai watched the twins argue with each other as they sat on a bench in the waiting shed. But the waiting shed was years old and the roof was already caved in, giving a nice view of the night sky. They're not waiting for a bus, but it was the nearest thing where they could rest for a while as Gene suggested that Mai needs to take a short breather from all that happened.

The night was silent except for the ongoing argument the twins are engaged in. Mai looked up and saw that the stars are out. They twinkled above them like diamonds in the sky. She can't help but think they also looked like fireflies up so high in space. Closing her eyes, she sighed as a calming feeling washed over her. But it was quickly diminished when the memory of Haru disintegrating into ashes and then bursting into flames flashed into her mind.

 _Haru..._

Tears threatened to spill out of the corner of her eyes. She looked down at her folded hands on her lap.

Wasn't there any other way where he ends up _not_ dying? Was she too slow to save him? Guilt crawled its way into her heart. Is it all her fault?

A fat raindrop landed on her clenched hands. She looked up to check if it was raining, but then realized that even if there were dark and thick clouds gathering in the sky, the raindrop didn't come from the clouds. They came from her—from her now sad eyes, creating its own rain from the sadness of the loss of one person.

Naru caught her crying first as she turned to see that his eyes were looking at her, with emotions that were hard to decipher, as he stared back at her wet ones. Gene notices his brother's attention wasn't on him, and turned to look at Mai too.

Feeling a bit embarrassed, she started rubbing her eyes and tried a smile. She will not be weak. She will NOT be weak.

"S-Sorry. I didn't mean to."

Now the real rain started.

Immediately, droplets fell from the sky like bullets, splashing once it hits the ground. It fulfilled the meaning of the usual saying "Raining cats and dogs".

Gene cursed, and immediately grabbed Mai's arm. "We have to get out of the rain!"

Then all three of them did as he said and dashed to anywhere is the best place to hide from the storm that has just arrived.

* * *

Apparently, the current spot they thought that was the best place to hide from the storm was underneath an old and huge tree that just a walk away from the Davis' house. It had so much leaves that it was like the biggest umbrella ever to the twins and the girl, so they could just sit under the tree and not fear of their clothes becoming wet.

As they sat down under the big ol' tree, they watched the raindrops do their job of watering the plants of the Earth. And in their silence, the twins are fully aware of the brunette's mood. She'd usually be talking to them like there's no tomorrow (their guess is that she doesn't really like silence between them) but right now, she was just staring off into space, locked away in her own world and not aware of her surroundings.

Gene turned to his brother.

 _Noll, what do we do? Any ideas?_

His brother's response was a slight shrug of his shoulders.

 _Got no clue._

Gene groaned, _I'm pretty sure_ the _Great Idiot Scientist always have ideas. You're just not willing to help a friend when in need._

 _But aren't you better with people than me? I think it's best for you to handle this instead._

"I'm sorry."

The twins swiveled their heads to look at their friend who suddenly spoke up, but in a soft voice.

"Sorry for what, Mai?" Gene frowned. "There's nothing to be sorry of. Don't beat yourself up."

She finally turned her attention to Gene, eyes wide and shiny with tears ready to be shed, her bottom lip trembling. Any moment, she might burst out crying. She dropped her head, covering her shame.

"No, I shouldn't have disobeyed you and Naru by going to the house in secret. I shouldn't have entered that horrible place. Also, I should have prevented Haru from ever going to that house in the first place." She held her head in her hands, and Gene could see how her hands were trembling from the guilt train that just arrived. "I'm so sorry. I've been a really bad girl tonight."

There was just silence after that, and the twins just listened to the sound of the rain that was trying to cover the sounds of their little friend's shaky breath as she fights back the feeling of wanting to cry.

Gene bit his bottom lip. He was about to do something to cheer her up, but was shocked at the sight to see his brother do something so un-Noll for him to do.

He watched as his brother scoot over slowly closer to Mai, looking unsure for once of what he doing. Noll reached out his hand to her, but his actions looked awkward—as expected, since he never saw him do any action of comfort to anyone before. After a slow counting of five seconds, he had his hand on Mai's shoulder, which caused her to gasp a bit, but her head stayed where it was and was just frozen from his touch. He then decided to move his hand to her back, and then it made a circular motion. An action people use when a friend is crying.

Smiling, Gene watched his brother show a side that he doesn't usually show to people unless with someone close to him. Even if his actions looked robotic and stiff just rubbing circles on her back, he knew that Noll was doing his very best to be comforting.

Noll must have felt him staring because he looked up and glared at him, all the while still comforting the girl whose back started to shake as she finally started crying. Gene snickered without a sound.

 _Don't even think about_ , Noll threatened.

 _Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say!_

Gene made his move to sit closer to her and comb her hair with his hand. "Don't feel bad, Mai. It's not your fault. You even went as far as to not listen to us and went along to search for him. If Haru were here now, he'd probably be happy to know that at least someone cared enough to try stopping him from being in trouble."

Mai didn't reply but just kept crying, and as if the sky knew of her grief, the rain stopped and a beautiful, wonderful, bright moon shined down its light to them. It almost seemed as if the sky wanted to cheer her up too.

They don't know how long they stayed like that, but what they know is that once Mai felt better, the sky was clear enough for them to see the stars. So beautiful. So bright.

Then they walked Mai to her home (thank goodness it's just nearby their home) and then he and Noll went back their own home to sleep.

* * *

"Mai, hurry up! We're going to be late for school!"

"Coming!"

Mai finally put on her shoes and ran to stand by Naru and Gene's side. Before she could walk out of the house with them, she turned back to call out for her mom to say goodbye.

"Mommy! I'm heading off now with Gene and Naru!"

Her mom's head poked out of the kitchen and gave Mai the best smile she could ever see in the world. "Okay! Have fun now, Mai!" The smile was then directed to the twins. "Take good care of her, boys!"

Gene smiled while Naru nodded.

"We will!" It was Gene who answered.

The three of them exited the house and started their walk to school. The sun gave off its usual bright light for the morning, as if it never did rain the night before. The only evidences of it raining hours ago was of the plants having some dew over their leaves. The day was hot, but not too hot as when it is summer. It was probably the best day to have a picnic or have fun in the outdoors.

Despite the beautiful mood the morning brought, a certain brunette's mood was not matching with the cheeriness of the day. She faced Gene and Naru with a pout.

"Now, could you please tell me why we are up this early?"

"Well," Gene started, attention on the road ahead of them. "If you lived long enough to be with Noll, you'll learn to be an early bird everyday."

Mai cocked her head to the side. "Eh?"

Naru sighed beside her. "I see it as a waste of time if people oversleep."

"But it's still too early in the morning!" Mai replied. "By the time we get to school, there won't be anyone in the classroom yet!"

Naru shrugged and looked away from her. "Well, if we let someone like you to wake up on your own time, you'd be tardy everyday you go to school. At that rate, you'll even be a tardy person when you grow up and go to work. Then your boss will be pissed everyday he sees you be late."

Mai stuck her tongue out at him, to which he responded with the rolling of his eyes and muttering "idiot" under his breath. At this, Gene just laughed. Seeing him laugh, Mai laughed too.

 _I hope it always stays this happy._

* * *

Noll knew something wrong would happen soon.

While walking, they were not that aware that they were nearing the Izumi house until Mai stopped talking and just stared up at the abandoned building that was just rotting away by age.

The three were silent as they listened to the wind howl its song. With that sound, it added the worst ambience for the area. It was like the song for the damned, if there ever was one.

Mai then looked around her as if she were being called, but when Noll looked around too, he saw no one. Mai caught his eyes and he raised an eyebrow in question.

"Um, I thought I heard something."

Gene heard this and also imitated his brother. "Huh?"

Mai scanned her surroundings again and looked at them. "I... I thought I heard someone whispering something that sounded like..."

"Like, what?"

Mai hesitated, but then answered. "It sounded like... 'Join the family', or something like that."

The twins noticed Mai's now panicking eyes. But before they could say anything, they heard something else.

"You shouldn't be near that house."

The three turned around to see that they're not alone.

Behind them was a girl around Mai's age, with beautiful doll features for a face and short hair in the shade of black. The girl wore the uniform from the same school as theirs. She also wore a big lavender cardigan that had its sleeves too big that it covered her hands. The girl had a serious face that gave them a message that she's not joking around.

She walked up to them and raised her sleeved hand to cover her mouth, but her words were clear to them.

"Whatever you do, don't ever go near that house. _Ever_."

Mai took a step back as Gene looked at the newcomer with a confused look. "Eh?"

The cardigan girl's looks hardened as she spoke her next words with clarity despite her sleeve covering her mouth.

"My name is Hara Masako, and I _demand_ you to step away from the Izumi House property."

Gene made a slight gasp as Noll's eyes widened a fraction at this.

 _Wait_ , Gene spoke to him through his mind. _You mean she's_ -

But before they could say anything else, they heard Mai cry in pain and turned around in time for them to see her drop down to the grass of the front lawn, unconscious.

Gene dashed to the brunette, but it was his brother who came to her side first.

"Mai!"

* * *

 **A/N: I'M BACK! AND SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING LAST MONTH!**

 **(And sorry for a chapter that didn't have much exciting things in it -u-')**

 **It was REAAAAAALLY hectic last month as I just graduated, and was looking for a college to take the entrance exam to be accepted there. The problem now is to choose whether I go to (Course A) or (Course B). So I'm having a bit of a conundrum here...**

 **Also, lookout as I might make another update for this month again if I am fast enough and have enough time. (YAAAAAAY TWO UPDATES IN ONE MONTH!)**

 **Please leave a comment about the story so far! And rate! Your comments gave me inspiration to continue anyways ;w;**

 **So for that, I'd like to thank fabian1nina1, mintyMuffins, Rosedream (Guest), ABC (Guest), Sageofchaos, pennYnnep, and foxchick1 for leaving comments that helped me feel happy that there are people enjoying my story. *Another round of happy tears***

 **(And thanks, pennYnnep! You have the longest comment so far, and it was interesting to read what you observed and liked so far too xD)**

 **Also thanks to Suifeng Crimes, my friend, for supporting me! (If you are part of the** _ **Katekyo Hitman Reborn!**_ **and/or the** _ **Tenkuu Shinpan**_ **fandom, then please read their fanfics please!)**

 **Until next time~**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: !tnuH tsohG nwo t'nod I**

* * *

 **Chapter Five**

The great Oliver Davis never panics. The great Oliver Davis was always cool and collected, and always have his head on his shoulders when a dire situation happens. But what was happening now nearly made him turn to full blown panic mode. (Maybe not too much panic, but panic nonetheless)

Mai just lay there on the grass as if sleeping, but she had her eyebrows tucked together as if having a really bad dream. She kept muttering stuff that they can't hear, and that was worrisome for them that Gene and Noll looked at each other.

"Pull her away."

The twins looked back at the girl, who called herself _the_ Hara Masako, and she looked at them again with an urgent and serious look. "I said to pull her away. _Now_."

Noll saw Gene nod immediately and grab for Mai's arms. He started dragging her away from the house's front lawn as far as possible. Noll helped his brother, grabbed her feet, and made the little transportation done so quickly.

Once away from the lawn, the both of them propped her up to sit against the small fence of the house, looking like a limp doll. Her breathing was a bit slow, so there was only little movements coming from her. It made her almost look like she was...

Noll shook his head.

No, she's not dead. Just unconscious. Probably caused by whatever paranormal happening that was from the house.

He then turned to Masako, imitating her serious look, ready to ask something. But Gene beat him to the punch.

"You claim to be _the_ Hara Masako, no? I heard that Hara Masako is a very young child Medium who features on TV in the show of where they discuss and present documentation of ghosts and vengeful spirits."

Masako nodded her head and raised her sleeve to her mouth. Is it a habit of hers?

"Yes and yes. But please do call me Masako."

"Okay." Gene said.

Noll ignored that and turned to stare at the sleeping brunette.

 _What do we do?_

Noll turned to Gene when his brother asked that.

 _We'll need answers. I have a hunch this is probably something caused by the Izumi House._

Gene's lips were pressed tight to a thin line as his head swiveled to face the Medium girl.

"Is she going to be alright?" He said as he pointed to Mai's sleeping form.

Masako's mouth was covered, but her uneasiness was shown by her eyebrows furrowing together a bit, but not too much to add much wrinkles on her.

"I'm not sure what happened to her, but I did feel a presence pass through her for a short while." She looked at the twins. "When I saw you three about to enter the Izumi house property, I felt a some spirits from there waiting for you to come. Which was why I had to take action and stop you, but I saw your friend take a step back and entered the property, and then this certain spirit flew to her, passed through her, and then she fell."

The twins looked down to their friend, then back at Masako. Gene spoke up. "But... If you felt a presence, why didn't I feel it too?" Masako raised her dainty eyebrow in question, to which Gene answered back, "I'm a Medium as well." Masako nodded.

"Yes. I, too, would have overlooked it and wouldn't have felt the presence. But if you pay real close attention to it, you can actually sense a hint of a some presences. It's as if some spirits are actually trying to hide their presence from us, and show it to certain people instead. Those certain people being those who are chosen to 'join the family'."

Gene looked around, as if looking for the said presences. "Yeah, now that you pointed it out, I can sense them a bit now, I guess."

It was Noll who spoke up. "Do you still feel these presences near Mai?" Masako shaked her head. He heard Gene sigh in relief. But he also saw Masako turned to look at the house.

"I can feel a lot of confused emotions coming from that house."

They all looked up to gaze upon the house with its rotten wood and dusty walls.

Covering of the mouth with the sleeve again. "I feel... confusion coming from a lot of them. There's also some who feel glee, but the sadistic kind. But there are also some with the feeling of agony. Some are also crying to be free. But..." The twins saw her shiver a bit, despite her wearing a cardigan.

"But?" Noll repeated.

She turned to Noll with those doll-like eyes staring at him. If you look closely, you can see a tiny hint of fear in them.

"There... there are two spirits that seem more dangerous than the others. They're the ones that must be avoided at all cost."

Like an answer to what she said, the wind howled loudly than before, and everything was still and quiet. It was like nature was silent, as if holding its breath of what's to come.

Gene then turned to the motionless body of Mai and tried to carry her on his back, giving her a piggy-back ride.

"Well, for now, let's head off to school. At least... away from this god forsaken place."

* * *

 _Mai knew she was dreaming. That's for sure. But she also felt like something was wrong with this dream._

 _What she saw in this dream was that she was standing on the front lawn of the Izumi house, but the house didn't look like the house she and the twins passed by on their way to school._

 _The house looked new. (Well, new-ish.)_

 _The wood didn't look like it was rotting away, and there were less plants running across the walls now. She looked around and saw that even the grass on the lawn were newly mowed and some flowers were growing on the sides of it. If Mai were to guess, she was having a dream of when the house wasn't abandoned yet._

 _Birds sang lovely songs as the plants swayed to the wind, even if she couldn't feel the wind. Her hair also swayed too to the non-existent wind. The sun gave off its glorious light and the clouds did its job to gives some shade for those who don't like too much sunlight._

 _Then Mai frowned. Why was she having a dream of this then?_

 _"The Izumi house."_

 _Mai turned around and saw a boy, maybe two years older than her, with caramel brown hair standing there. What caught her attention first was his appearance. He wore a shirt and shorts that were both burned at some parts of the clothing. Some areas looked like some were smudged with soot and something that suspiciously looks red._

 _His arms and legs didn't look good as well. Some parts were smudged with soot too, but the limbs were mostly covered with bruises and scratches, as if he'd been wrestling with a dangerous cat. His wrists seemed to have bruises that made it look like he was bound tightly with a rope._

 _The boy had a hard look at her, but his eyes betrayed an emotion of... sadness?_

 _"Wh... who are you?" Mai finally managed to stutter out what was in her mind._

 _The boy shook his head, then whatever sadness was in his eyes vanished away._

 _"Taniyama Mai."_

 _Mai flinched. She doesn't know how he knew her name, but the way he said it made Mai know that he was warning her._

 _"H-How—"_

 _"My family was about to take you in, but I stopped them for a bit," the boy interrupted. "If you value both you and your friends' lives, then you will not come here EVER again."_

 _The imaginary wind stopped, making the plants stop their dance. The birds were suddenly silent. The sun seemed to dim and there were more clouds than earlier, and they looked dark, making the whole background grim-looking._

 _The boy noticed this and pulled on Mai's wrist. His eyes now looked alarmed._

 _"Get out of here!"_

 _But before Mai could do anything, she felt two pairs of hands grab her shoulders and pulled her out of the boy's grasp. He tried to grab hold to her hand again, but Mai was pulled back away from his reach, and the wind cried as if it were the audience watching a movie of what's happening now._

 _Mai looked up and yelped when she saw two faces, a woman and a man, grinning at her, as if she were their favorite toy for them to destroy for fun. Their grip on her shoulders became stronger until their nails dug to her skin._

 _"NO! Get away from me!" Mai tried thrashing around, but it was a bad move as that made their nails dig deeper into her skin, making her scream more in agony._

 _To add more to the trouble at hand, fire erupted around the area they're in, forming a ring of fire to entrap them. When the fire died down, in its place are kids—kids looking in the same state as the boy—kids with burned clothes and scratches all over them._

 _There were some children with crazy smiles on their faces, but the rest of the kids had confusion or sadness written all over them, as if they had no idea of what they're doing and aren't enjoying it either._

 _The man and woman then turned to them without loosening their grip on the brunette. It was the woman who spoke._

 _"Let her join the family! Let her join the family!"_

 _The kids, even the confused and sad ones, started chanting. "Join the family. Join the family. Join the family."_

 _They tried to reach for her, but this made Mai thrash around some more._

 _"NO! Stop!"_

 _The boy grabbed for her hands again, and made sure he held tight to prevent her from being away from him again. He pulled as if playing a tug-of-war between life and death._

 _"Mai! You have to wake up!"_

 _"Child!" The couple behind her said as they made their nails dig even deeper. Mai wants to burst in tears already. Her arms feel like they're being pulled out of their sockets, but her shoulders feel like they're being painfully injected by twenty needles._

 _"You will join the family," the couple said. "You WILL join the family!"_

 _Pain. Pain. Pain._

 _Pain on the shoulders._

 _"Join the family! Join the family!"_

 _The children sang in chorus._

 _"No! I don't want to!"_

 _"MAI!"_

 _With one last strong tug, the boy was able to pull Mai out of the couple's grasp. And right when she was pulled away from them, her surroundings faded to black, and then Mai felt her eyes close._

* * *

"AHHHHHHHHHH!"

Noll flinched and Gene was startled when Mai woke up screaming as Gene carried her on his back. Gene was so shocked at this that he accidentally let go of her and make Mai fall on her bottom, painfully, to which she stopped screaming and gave a yelp of hurt.

"Oh, Mai! I'm so, so sorry for dropping you!"

Masako watched from the sidelines, also startled by the sudden screaming.

Gene held out his hand, and Mai grabbed on to it and was assisted to stand up.

"What happened?" Gene asked. "Bad dream?"

Noll watched Mai look around as if trying to recall what planet she's on, and what area she's in. If he looked closely, he thought he saw her eyes looking around with fear.

Noll frowned. Fear?

But when she turned to Gene, she seemed to sigh and relax, as if convinced she's safe. But safe from what?

"Yeah... just one... horrible nightmare."

Masako raised her sleeve to cover her mouth, once again, probably to prevent people seeing her press her lips to a thin line. Gene looked at Noll and could see the concern in his eyes.

 _We really ought to tell Mom and Dad._

Noll didn't reply and just stared at the brunette as she suddenly made her back straight, and gave the brightest smile she could bring out. "Well, no need to worry about that nightmare! It was just a dream after all! Dreams aren't real. No worries, no worries!"

They all watched her adjust her backpack again and started skipping ahead of them.

"Come on! We don't want to be late in school, since Naru did his best for us to be early."

She hummed a tune as she lead the way, to which all of them had to walk up to catch up with her. Even the Hara Masako followed them soundlessly.

Gene walked side-by-side with his brother.

 _Do you think it's_ just _a dream?_

Noll had his thinking face on.

 _We can never be sure, since this may have been caused by whatever spirits the house contains._

He saw Gene nod.

 _It's possible._

Noll stared at Mai's back as she started humming another tune. She was probably pretending to be alright to not worry them all.

 _First, let's ask her later of what she dreamed about._

* * *

 _You will come back to us._

* * *

Two teenagers stood in front of the Izumi house, but they were wise enough to not enter its property.

"So, this is the house, eh?" The male teen scratched his (slightly long) brown hair as he stared up to the house. He then looked around to see the area the house is surrounded by. He notices an ominous presence the house held, which obviously meant that there _definitely_ is something wrong with the house.

He then turned to his companion. "This place gives me the creeps."

The female teen—his companion—tucked a lock of her reddish brown hair behind her ear as she, too, stared up at the house.

"You coward. Can't believe I came with you this early in the morning to check out the house before heading off to school. Don't you know I need my beauty sleep?"

The guy snickered and roll his eyes at her. "Right, right. I forgot you're an old lady who needs enough sleep to take away those wrinkles there."

WHACK!

The guy was now holding his head. "Ow! Did you HAVE to hit me with your bag?!"

"You deserved it," she said it with a huff. The teen then looked down and saw an abandoned towelette on the grass of the front lawn.

Being careful of not entering the property, she picked it up and checked to see the name that was sewed with red thread.

MAI.

"You think someone else was 'called' to the house right before we came?" The guy frowned. "If yes, then we have to see what we can do to stop this."

She sighed and just stuffed the towelette into her pocket in her skirt.

"Come on now. We'll take a look at the place later when classes are over."

* * *

 **A/N: And here's the second update I promised!**

 **This update was posted before but needed some editing as it needed changes. Now that it's posted and done being edited, I found out I didn't need to change a lot of things and just needed to edit a bit to fix it all up. But I took long since my lazy butt wouldn't bring me to fix it up as fast I could do (*cough* Been busy playing games and drawing *cough*)**

 **Thanks, once again, Dementra for that helpful comment!**

 **Thanks Kallen21 for commenting! (Yours was a simple comment, but I promised myself that I'll thank anyone who leaves a review to the story ^^)**

 **Thanks pennYnnep for the comment (again)! Once again, your comment brought a smile to my face. And for your question about all the main GH characters being young here... you'll see ;)**

 **And thanks bebosen for the comment too! And yes, chibi GH characters are really cute! ^^**

 **Until next time~**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm pretty sure none would believe me if I said I own Ghost Hunt. So, yeah, I don't own Ghost Hunt. But I do own this interesting cookie in my hand right now!**

* * *

 **Chapter Six**

 _"Mom! Dad! The kids in school stole my cookies!"_

 _A boy ran in the house with an upset expression, clothes dirty probably from trying to fight back to get back his precious cookies, but failed at that attempt and fell on the dusty ground. Once he closed the door behind him, he threw his bag to the floor and went off in a little hunt to find his parents._

 _"I was going to give them to Aoi-kun but the big kids snatched it from me and threw me at the dirt road beside the school. Now Aoi-kun will never get his cookies!"_

 _There was no response to the kid as he just heard silence all throughout the house. He found this odd as his parents usually respond back immediately whenever he called to them. In fact, they usually greet him by the door whenever he reaches home, so why are they not doing that now?_

 _He ventured more into the house and stopped when he heard crying coming from the kitchen._

 _"Huh?"_

 _He tiptoed towards the doorway of the kitchen, get down on his knees, and peaked a bit to see his mother sitting on one of the chairs, sobbing into her hands._

 _"Mom?" The boy whispered to himself, quite shocked to see his mother sad. She usually has a smile on her face. Why isn't she happy now?_

 _He watched his father hugging her and trying to rub circles on her back to soothe her, but the boy can tell that his father, too, had a pained expression on his face. Why was he unhappy as well?_

 _Something in his mother's hands caught his eyes, and he squinted them to focus on his sight of what it is. It something small—a stuffed toy puppy._

 _It was his brother's stuffed toy._

 _His_ dead _brother's stuffed toy._

 _The boy's lips pressed together, and his mood was then affected by the gloomy atmosphere his parents gave out._

 _Two years ago, his mother gave birth to another baby—his little baby brother, Ikkun. The whole family was overjoyed that even the boy was excited to become an older sibling for his new baby brother. But all good things don't last long, as one day—just four weeks ago—the babysitter in-charge of watching over little Ikkun accidentally started a fire, burning down the house while he was in a field trip in school and his parents at work. Both babysitter and Ikkun died, which the death of their baby caused such grief to the parents, and the boy was also affected badly._

 _He could remember the days that adults would lie to him and say that his brother "is living in another place for a while, and that you'll see him again someday". His parents would hear these lies and have an immediate emotional breakdown then and there from remembering that their baby was gone. The boy would always get annoyed with the adults for reminding his parents what they lost, and also is irritated with the fact that they're trying to lie to him because they think that children wouldn't understand death. But he understood it well enough that his brother is_ definitely _not alive anymore._

 _"I-Ikkun..." The boy heard his mother sobbing, her voice cracking and making his heart feel a jab of pain from seeing how sorrowful she is. "M... My dear, s-sweet Ikkun...!" Another sob escapes her lips and she held her husband tightly than ever._

 _"Y-Yes, honey," he saw his father moving his hand to place at either side of her cheeks to make sure their foreheads were touching, and he wiped the tears from his wife, but tears rolled down from his eyes as well. "I know. I know..."_

 _The mother squeezed her eyes shut and raised her hands to cover her mouth. "What a-about Sh... Shin? Oh gosh... to think he was s-so excited to have a baby brother..." She ended up wailing again. The sound can really painfully pull anyone's heartstrings. "M... My dear Shin. N-Now he won't be able to get to experience what it's like to h-have a baby brother anymore!"_

 _The couple continued weeping as the boy's head dropped low, and he turned away from the depressing sight of his vulnerable parents. He just sat there on the floor, fists clenching and unclenching on his lap._

 _Right now, all he wishes is that his family will someday recover from the tragedy that has caused his family to start breaking._

* * *

"Taniyama Mai! Stop sleeping in my class!"

Everyone roared in laughter as Mai's head shot up, her mind no longer on Dreamland. Her eyes looked immediately at her teacher, who was looking quite P-I-S-S-E-D.

"Yes, ma'am!"

The teacher shook her head, then turned away to walk over to her desk, "This is unusual coming from you, as you have never slept in class before."

The teacher went back to her lessons and the students' snickering died down as they listened to the teacher discuss about Photosynthesis. Naru and Gene—who are sitting at the seats behind hers—looked at her questioningly, to which she answered with her whispering.

"Just sleepy. Probably from last night."

Gene tried to mouth out the words, giving the message that he understood, while Naru just nonchalantly turned away from her.

Mai sighed in relief and turned to stare out of the window. The privileges of having a seat by the window.

 _What was that?_ Mai asked deeply in her thoughts. _That dream was weird. Quite sad, even!_

She watched the tree beside the classroom have its leaves sway to the rhythm of the wind.

 _Now that I think about it... the boy did look like the boy I met in that weird Izumi House dream..._

Maybe it was something important?

Mai shook her head. Laughing quietly to herself.

There's no way that was important anyways. Probably just some dream caused from thinking much about the Izumi House.

Yup, just a dream...

* * *

Okay. Whether it was a dream or not, Mai is DEFINITELY going to go back to that house.

She doesn't know the reasons why. All she knows that she has some strong pull to that house, and her curiosity of what's happening is eating her up. But, at the same time, she feels something _definitely_ was wrong. Everytime she feels the pull, shivers run down her spine, as if sensing something bad was going to happen. But what it is, she doesn't know.

Once the teacher dismissed the class, she immediately packed up her stuff into her bag, making sure nothing is left behind. Seeing her packing in haste, Naru leaned over to her, his bag ready for him to leave already. "You're in a hurry."

Mai momentarily looked up at him, but went back to her packing immediately. Once everything was kept, she started walking out of the classroom in a fast pace, with Naru in tow.

"Gene is still in the restrooms."

Mai turned her head to look at him, but continued walking, "Please tell Gene I'll be leaving ahead and that we can walk home from school tomorrow."

It was silent for a while, but she had a feeling he was still there, following her. Then he spoke up.

"You're going to the house again."

Mai stopped. It was obvious that Naru wasn't questioning her. He said it as a matter of fact, and the world cursed her to be a terrible liar, so she might as well tell him the truth. She sighed.

"Yes, I am," then she added, "and you can't stop me!"

She dared to look back and saw Naru raising an eyebrow at her. "I already knew how much of an idiot you are. But I seemed to have underestimated your lack of intelligence, and am now seeing how terrible of an idiot you are than I originally expected."

Mai's face flushed with anger. "JERK! Don't say it like I have a brain of an ostrich!"

"You mostly have a brain of a jellyfish instead."

She cocked her head a bit. "I thought jellyfishes don't have brains?"

"Did you not get what I mean?"

The girl groaned, stuck her tongue out to him, then turned forward to walk away from him as far as possible. "Jerk! Jerk! JERK! UGH!"

She now exited the school and was walking towards the direction where she knows the Izumi house is located. What she didn't expect Naru to do was continue following her. Probably to annoy her more. He seems to have some enjoyable habit of teasing her. That bully! How Gene copes with this monster his whole life, she doesn't know.

"Why are you following me, Naru?" Mai called out without turning around to look at his annoying face. (Not that it's ugly or anything.) "Isn't Gene going to wonder where you went off to once he notices you're not there waiting for him like how a good brother does?"

"It's dangerous to go back to that house." He avoided her question, and the topic of the house won't escape him.

Mai sighed loudly, mostly for him to hear on purpose. "Could you please go back? Gene will be worried." Then she added, "Besides, I promise I won't do anything stupid when I reach the house."

He shook his head a bit. "Almost everything you do is idiotic enough."

She felt her eye twitch. Did he just—

Before Mai could do or say anything to him, rain suddenly dropped from the sky real fast, as if someone threw a dart at a giant water balloon on the sky. Mai raised her bag to cover herself, then she turned to Naru, to which he spoke up.

"We have to find shelter."

An idea just struck her mind.

"There's this shortcut that leads to the park!" And since the park is near Naru's and Gene's house, she could stay there until the rain dies down. Naru must've gotten what she meant and nodded his head. Mai continued, "There's this trail that leads to the forest. It's a short walk on the trail until we reach the park."

"Let's go then. Don't want you catching a fever that will destroy whatever braincells you have left."

Mai felt her blood boil, but she decided to discuss about it later as all she wants to do right now is get out of the rain.

She grabbed Naru's hand and led him as they ran ahead, looking for the path Mai mentioned. Half a minute later, the said path appeared and Mai steered Naru into the woods.

Mai sighed inwardly. Seems that she'll have to go to the house another time.

But she can't help but have this feeling as if someone was calling for her from that house... and she feels some certain pull for her to go to that house as well.

What is it, she wonders.

* * *

While the two kids were trying to run through the forest to reach the park, they weren't aware that near the park, the Izumi House, a door slowly creaked open. But nothing came out.

But is it really just _nothing?_

* * *

 _We'll make you join soon enough._

* * *

 **A/N: And here's an update!**

 **Originally, this chapter was supposed to be longer than what I present here now. But because I realized it was just too long, I decided that it will be cut here, and the other half will just be presented in chapter seven instead. So watch out! As chapter seven** _ **MAY**_ **come soon just before May ends. (...I didn't know I made a pun until right after I typed that down...)**

 **Anyways! Thanks pennYnnep again for commenting. (If it's loyalty, I appreciate your loyalty to this lousy fanfic of mine ;w;) And to answer your question... I'm not quite sure actually. But if I see it fit, I may add them to follow that part of the canon story. But thank you for asking as I'll take that in mind ^^**

 **Thanks MarinitaChan for commenting! It was a funny story of my little "adventure" to figure out what your comment said as I had to chat with Suifeng Crimes. Saying, "CRIMES! DO YOU SPEAK SPANISH?!" And in the end, as much as it's not reliable to some extent, I used Google Translate to figure out what your comment said xD (I got the gist of it anyways)**

 **To answer to what you asked about John, he may appear soon! And to answer if there are pairings in this FF (I call Fanfics as FFs because I'm lazy :p) well... I didn't categorize it as Romance, but maybe some slight pairings, as I do ship Naru and Mai, and a bit of Ayako and Bou-san. But this FF will mostly be focused to the genres I set it to have in the first place. (And I'll try my best on the pairings, as Romance isn't my forte, but I'll try my best anyways ^^)**

 **That's all! Just know chapter seven will come soon.**

 **Until next time~**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Last time I checked, I do not own Ghost Hunt. I haven't reached that level of awesomeness just yet.**

* * *

 **Chapter Seven**

They would have reached their destination by now, but the rain came harder than before once they reached the park, so Noll found himself finding shelter under a tree from the rain. He stayed there, squatting, with Mai also following his position beside him. They together watched as the big and fat raindrops fall heavily to the ground, ending with a tiny splash until another raindrop comes.

Noll told Mai that once the rain slows down a bit, they could make a run for it to his house, then they can stay warm and dry up. And she was fine with that idea.

They stayed silent while waiting, but a few minutes later, Noll saw Mai's eyes slowly closing, her head lolling to the side. It didn't even take long for her to submit herself to the clutches of sleep, and when she finally did, her head lolled to his direction and landed safely on his shoulders.

Noll stiffened at this, but she had a contented smile, as if feeling comfortable. The direct contact surprised Noll even if she's unconscious, but weird as it is, made him feel happy, too—which is odd enough. He despised having contact with anyone at all. So why does he feel all warm inside? A smile was trying to force its way up on his lips—but he restrained himself. No smiling now.

He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Idiot," he muttered before he gently held Mai's body and moved it to the trunk of the tree beside them, making her lie down on it.

Making sure she's comfortable by hearing her give a sigh of contentment, he then sat on his knees and watched the brunette's chest rise and fall in a slow pace. He brushed some wet strands away from his eyes as he decided to sit in front of her, on his knees.

"With her out cold," he muttered to himself softly, "we won't be home for a while."

 _Noooooooll!_

His eyes closed as he heard Gene calling out his name in his head, _Yes?_

 _You traitor! You said you'd wait for me outside the restrooms, but that big head of yours seem to only understand complicated instructions than simple ones. How could you leave me behind?!_

 _I followed Mai,_ he simply said, to which Gene stopped complaining about his betrayal.

 _Ahh,_ Noll could hear Gene's teasing tone. _So my idiot of a brother chose to spend time with a girl than me? I should be mad, but I think I'm proud of you instead. Good job for finally melting that ice-cold heart of yours, Noll! Am I finally gonna be an uncle?_

Noll ignored what he said and went straight to the point.

 _Mai was planning to go back to the Izumi House._

Gene was silent for a while, but then spoke up, _Well, I could see why you left me now._

 _But with this weather, I think she wouldn't be going to that house for now._

 _Yeah,_ Gene said. _Woohoo, weather!_

 _I suggest that we watch over her from now on to make sure this airhead doesn't make any grand ideas to waltz over to that place ever again._

 _Yeah, both of us will have to do it._

With that said, Noll told him that their current location is in the park, so he can just meet them here so that they can guide Mai to their house to wait for the rain to stop.

 _Don't take too long,_ Noll reminded his brother. Gene laughed.

 _Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, mom. Don't go running off with your fiance without me!_

Then Gene was gone.

Noll rolled his eyes at this and then moved to the spot near Mai to sit right beside her. Upon closer look at her, he could see that Mai's hair was just sticking all over her face, making her look quite messy.

The corner of his lip tugged up for a second as he went to work to fixing her hair and placing the strands of hair away from her face. She giggled a bit since the feeling of the tips of his fingers on her face was probably ticklish for her. He finished off with tucking the last strands of hair behind her ear, which in response, he could hear her hum a bit before sleeping peacefully.

"Idiot," was what he said before leaning back his head on the tree, watching the leaves being battered by the tiny raindrops.

* * *

 _In her dream, Mai was floating in an endless void of darkness, with what looks like some dots of lights floating here and there at times. But her surroundings changed when Mai heard a baby's cry in her mind. The darkness melted away and colors started to fade in, but all she could see was the burning colors of red and orange. Mai looked around her, and she could guess she's in a house that was on fire, as most parts are already engulfed in flames._

 _The baby's cry was heard by the girl once again, and she found herself running to wherever the baby was._

Is this a dream? _Mai pondered at this and wondered what kind of dream was this._

 _The baby's cry was near now,_ I'm coming!

 _She finally reached the room and saw a baby boy wailing in his wraps of blankets. Beside the baby, under the pile of broken wood that must've fallen from the ceiling, there was a woman in her fourties—not moving. She didn't look like she was breathing either._

 _Mai's hands flew up to her mouth, tears starting to cloud her vision a bit. But she didn't have enough time to mourn since the baby started crying again, reminding Mai's initial plan to rescue the baby. She went over to the baby._

 _"Shh, it's alright now. I-I'm here now—" just as she was about to scoop the baby into her arms, the baby burst into flames, which Mai immediately raised her arms to cover her face._

 _"AH!"_

 _Fire kept on burning crazily in front of her, and vanished a few seconds later. When Mai dropped down her hands, she saw that both the baby and the woman disappeared, without a trace. As if they weren't there all this time._

 _"Eh? What...?" She whispered._

 _"The family wants you."_

 _She looked back, and saw someone in the midst of the fire. It's the boy from her dreams, literally—Shin._

 _"It's you!" Mai gasped. She turned to where the baby was seconds ago, then turned back to him with a sad look. "Was that your baby brother? Ikkun?"_

 _The boy flinched. Pain was evident to his eyes, but it was quickly diminished and a grim look replaced it._

 _"There's no escaping now. I tried to stop my family, but their full attention is on you now. I'm sorry."_

 _The fire roared louder than before and the flames around them were coming closer now._

 _"But," Mai said. "Isn't there a way to end it?"_

 _Flames danced furiously behind Shin, but it seems to not affect him at all. Is he fire-proof?_

 _"The only way for this to end is when they capture you."_

 _More of the building was falling apart and started to cave in, some of the wood nearly missing her._

 _"I'm sorry," Shin whispered. Mai was trying to avoid the fire that was coming even closer to her from her right side._

 _"What... What should I do now?"_

 _Fire here. Fire there. Fire wherever she looks. She can't even see what's beyond the walls of the blazing inferno._

 _Shin smiled, but no happiness was behind it—just sadness._

 _There's no escape—no escape now in her prison of fire—nowhere to run anymore. She watched as the fire came for her. Mai squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see the terror._

 _Can people die in dreams? She doesn't want to find out._

 _"I can only tell you one thing..." She heard Shin's voice loud and clear, despite the sounds of the fire crackling._

 _The dream only ended when she heard Shin's answer—_

 _"Pray for a miracle."_

* * *

When Noll woke up, the place was getting a bit dark as the night was coming closer. The rain must have slowed down a bit during the midst of his slumber since there wasn't too much raindrops falling from the sky anymore. But asides from the fact that the rain was not that strong now, there's one thing that he noticed was missing—

"Mai?"

—and that would be a certain girl.

Noll looked at the spot he remembered he last saw her in before he fell asleep, but didn't see her beside him. He got up and tried finding the girl, making sure he doesn't panic too. (Like he said before, _the_ Oliver Davis does _not_ panic.)

It didn't take too long for him to find her, though. He saw her by the sandbox, crouching down on her knees and speaking to something. Since it's still raining—but just a drizzle—her uniform was getting soaked from the rain. But even as she was taking some shower under the drizzling rain, that didn't stop her from doing whatever she's doing by the sandbox. All he could see was her back facing to him.

He approached her soundlessly, drawing nearer to her and finally seeing what she was talking to. From what he saw, it seems there was a kitten right in front of her, also soaked from the rain. Mai was stroking the kitten's back, making the kitten purr in pleasure.

He bent down quietly so that his lips is near her ear.

"Aren't you going to have a fever this way?"

Mai jumped in surprise, spun around to him with wide eyes. But when she saw that it was just him, she sighed.

"Naru! Don't go sneaking up to people like that! I swear you'd make a good ninja if you weren't busy scaring innocent people around."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I didn't even intend to scare you. You scared yourself instead. I merely just walked up to you and talked to you."

"Yeah, but you were so silent!"

"Not really. At least I'm not such a loudmouth like you."

"Ah, shut up!" Mai huffed and went back to petting the kitten. Her wet hair sticking to her face like tendrils.

"At this rate, the longer you stay under the rain, the more you'll lose whatever braincells you have left through a fever."

Mai's head turned back to him once more, a pout forming on her face. "Hey!"

"But I guess there probably isn't any hope of saving those braincells anymore."

She groaned and turned away from him, to which he didn't expect. He was actually expecting her to retaliate for what he said, but her reaction was that of ignoring him already.

He looked closely at her and saw details he never saw before—she was chewing on her lower lip, as if anxious. Her fingers, even if they were busy petting the kitty, were trembling. And her eyes—they were focused on the kitty, but it's obvious to him that her thoughts are directed somewhere else in her mind instead.

In other words, she seems nervous of something.

Noll let some silence pass between them for a second before he crouched down beside her.

"Is there something wrong, Mai?"

Mai, for a while, hesitated. "...No?"

He sighed a bit. "You're a bad liar."

Mai pouted again. "No..."

Noll thought of it for a while. Then an idea came up in his head. "Was it about the Izumi House in any way?"

Mai silent.

"Mai," Noll prompted.

"Yes," Mai admitted defeat. "It was a dream. But it felt so real though! Probably just a dream, maybe. It was about someone telling me that I'm in danger."

"That part of you being in danger is quite obvious already," he said.

"And Naru," her voice tinged with worry. Worry? "The boy in my dream said something about the family saying something."

Noll leaned a bit closer to her. "What was it?"

Her eyes turned to him, and he could see the anxiousness hidden in those eyes.

"They said... they said that they want me to join the family."

The howl of the wind followed after that. The rain stopped as well. Everything then was still for a second.

Mai flinched a bit when the kitten started mewling and tried to quickly escape from her grasp.

"Kitty!"

Mai tried to catch the kitten but it was gone already. Noll got up on his feet immediately when something caught his eyes.

He grabbed Mai's wrist and pulled her towards the bushes.

"What is it?" Mai asked. Avoiding from eating the leaves.

He pointed at the figure he saw. Mai followed with her eyes the direction his finger was pointing at and gasped softly.

There at the entrance of the park was a girl. She would have looked like a normal girl just passing by on first glance, but when looked at closely, it will then be obvious to see that her form is translucent, as if looking through tinted glass. Her hair was in disarray, making it look like she hasn't brushed it for years. Her clothes looked burned at some areas, soot was also smothered all over her dress. There were some bruises shown on her skin, as if beaten up at times. There were even bruises on her wrists, making it seem like she'd been bound by a rope just recently.

She started walking around, slowly, in the park.

 _"The family wants you... The family wants you..."_

Mai gasped to which he had to bring out his hand to cover her mouth.

Both of them watched as the girl checked the west side of the park, looking at the slide and the swings. Her dark but blank eyes scanning for every area she can see, looking for someone—it doesn't take much to figure out that the girl was probably looking for Mai.

That trouble magnet. Always getting into trouble ever since every ghost in the Izumi House found out of her existence.

The park is designed to have a fence built to surround it, so there was no other way to escape. If they go back from where they came through the forest trail, it will lead them back to the area near their school. So by doing that, if they want to go home they'll have to take the long route to his house. And the problem with that route is that they'll end up passing by the Izumi House.

He glanced over at the entrance. The only exit to the place is the only place you enter the park. If he and Mai could sneak their way to the entrance using the bushes for cover, then they could escape without being noticed.

Noll mouthed the words _follow me_ to Mai, which she nodded in agreement. He started moving with Mai following his lead.

The ghost was still busy checking the west side of the park if Mai was hiding anywhere there, while Noll and Mai were slowly, but carefully, now approaching the east side of the park, hiding behind the bushes and not making a sound.

So far, so good.

 _Snap!_

Noll's head swung around to see Mai, foot on a twig. He mentally cursed himself for not reminding her to be careful of where she's stepping at. Raising up a hand to signal for her to stop and stay still, he glanced over to the ghost. The ghost girl was looking around, trying to find out where the sound was from. But it didn't take too long for her to give up and go back to her searching. He heard Mai softly sigh in relief behind him, and he motioned for her to continue following him.

They finally reached the northwest side of the park and he can now see that they're near to the entrance.

 _Not too far now..._

He reached back to grab Mai's hand and make her stick with him as he can see freedom so near now, his heart stopped beating when his hand reached only air behind him.

His head swung around to see she wasn't there. He looked around frantically and found her sneaking her way to the center of the park—towards the park's fountain where the kitten was.

 _MAI!_ Noll scolded her in his mind. He really wished he could shout it out loud with anger at her, but with a ghost on the loose, it'd be just like holding a sign to a hungry lion that says _I'm here! Eat me!_

He glanced at the ghost girl, who was busy looking at the south part of the park, and without it looking at him, he started his way quietly to the idiot.

The said idiot now grabbed the kitten and scooped it into her arms, like a firefighter saving a baby from the fire.

Stupid cat. Stupid girl. They're making his life hard.

He grabbed Mai's elbow and raised his finger to his lips. Guiding her, he quickly—but soundlessly—dragged Mai to the entrance.

Then the cat mewled.

Both of them stopped. He felt his heart stop.

Stupid cat.

As fast as he could, he pulled down Mai to the nearest place to hide—which is inside the tunnel.

The tunnel was some thing that, for some reason Noll doesn't understand, kids his age love to play in. They find fun through entering from one end to the other. Really, he doesn't see the fun in that. They should exercise their dumb brains with some challenges like algebra or some word problems.

Anyways, back to their incoming death.

The tunnel, fortunately, had some paddings in the inside, so that reduces any sound when Noll and Mai crawled inside. They made sure they're in the center, also making sure that they are far away from either side to avoid being seen. And since the tunnel was designed to have a line of peeping holes on the walls, he made sure neither Mai or him will be shown through the holes.

 _"Come..."_

Mai's hand shot up to her mouth, probably to stop a gasp that was about to escape her lips. She started to hug the kitten close to her and make sure her other hand covers the kitten's mouth.

Noll pulled her towards him and placed an arm around her. He did this as he saw from one of the holes a blur of movement coming dangerously near Mai's side of the tunnel.

 _"Come... Family wants... you..."_

The ghost sounded like it was circling the area. Probably won't be long before the ghost will find them in the tunnel. But at least they'll try waiting it out, in hopes for the ghost to never checkout the tunnel and leave.

 _"Maaaaaaaaai..."_

Mai looked up at Noll with panicked eyes, but he once again raised a finger to his lips. She nodded, but she still looks shaken.

 _"Come... Come... Maaaaaaaaai..."_

He can hear his heartbeat in his ears, wanting the ghost to be gone. He hopes that darn cat doesn't make another sound.

Seconds passed. Minutes passed. Maybe even an hour? Who knows. But whatever amount of time has passed, the ghost just circled around the tunnel, as if toying with them, maybe.

The place was getting dark now, and it was completely night. And once it was night, it was silent, but Noll swore he could still see a flash of white moving from the outside.

Was it safe to go out? Maybe yes, maybe not. That ghost girl might still be out there.

Seconds, minutes, an hour. They stayed there for too long, but they haven't seen that flash of white for a while now.

Mai risked it and peeped through the hole. He did it too and didn't see anything. Noll sighed. Mai turned to him and sighed in relief as well.

"I think it's gone now," Mai said.

Then a flash appeared at one end of the tunnel.

* * *

 **A/N: And here's the update!**

 **I planned to post it today since my birthday is near and I know I'll be busy by then. And to make this update special, it's a bit longer than what I planned it to be ;) (though it's kinda rushed because the time I made this was in the middle of the night and I'm just too sleepyyyy. But I'll probably improve this to maybe be better when the story is complete and decide to edit the whole thing.)**

 **Thanks pennYnnep for the comment! And thanks for such loyalty since whatever you say gives me confidence to go on with the story no matter how hard my days have been :)**

 **Thanks End-Theory-Confirmed for your comment! I'm glad my story have been entertaining you enough so far. It brings a (goofy) smile to my face everytime I read your comment (wow I sound like a creepo) I also hope you're feeling better now! ^^**

 **Thanks MikuHarukaSango for your comment! (Err I mean comments) And yessssshhhh, I guess Naru holding Mai's hand is so cute too :3**

 **Now I'm feeling sleepyyyyyyyy (Must. Rest...!)**

 **Until next time~**


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